Rewards and thank yous
by aonalion
Summary: Kaiba has been kidnapped and Jonouchi saves him. But of course there's more to it than that. Oneshot.


**A/N:** Quick oneshot before I leave ^w^  
>I've been listening to old Snoop Dogg songs recently, and they make me feel like writing something gangster-y... haha XD<br>I actually have an original (GANGSTER XD) story more or less planned out, so maybe I'll write it down when I'm away~

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><p>"Kaiba…"<p>

Jonouchi quickly knelt down next to the lifeless figure and placed two fingers near his throat. Oh, thank the gods; he still had a pulse.

The warehouse was dark and filled with containers, boxes, ropes and other forgotten things. It smelled like salt and seaweed in there and somewhere not too far away he could hear seagulls scream. Jonouchi could just barely make out Kaiba's body in the dim light; he was sitting in a corner, handcuffed, and his arms tied up high above his head. His head hung low and his eyes were hidden behind brown locks of hair.

As quickly as he could, Jonouchi stretched up and started picking the locks to the handcuffs; you hadn't lived the way he had for an entire life-time without picking up something useful along the way. When they finally opened with a small _click_, Jonouchi carefully lowered Kaiba's arms. Even so, he could hear an evil-boding crunching sound from the brunet's shoulders; he must've been sitting like that for a very, very long time.

Jonouchi could suddenly hear the screeches from a car stopping somewhere nearby, and the sound of car doors slamming shut.

"Shit!" he cursed under his breath and put an arm under Kaiba's shoulders, pulling him up in more or less standing position. He could hear someone shout out orders outside of the warehouse as well now – he would never make it out of there in time. But then he suddenly realized how light Kaiba's body felt; he must be both undernourished and dehydrated, and his breathing came in strained little puffs. Maybe he could…

Jonouchi gathered all his strength and picked Kaiba up; he really was lighter than he looked. The blond held him tight against his body and Kaiba's head rested against his shoulder.

Someone was opening the door to the warehouse now; they definitely wouldn't make it out of there. They had to find a place to hide – _now_. Jonouchi desperately searched the room for someplace to hide; actually, the place was full of them, but he needed somewhere where they never would be found. He had no idea how long they would have to stay in their hiding-place, if they found one.

Finally, he found the perfect spot in the opposite corner, where a container stood half tipped over. It looked dangerous; if someone were to simply give the container a small shove, it would probably fall over completely, but it would have to do. Jonouchi grabbed an oilcloth and pulled it down a little, so he was sure their hiding-spot was covered.

He crawled up in the corner and pulled Kaiba with him, letting the brunet rest his head against his shoulder again. Finally, Jonouchi could take a good look at his face while he heard at least five people wander around the room and curse and shout out orders.

Kaiba's skin was pale – paler than usual – and his hair was dirty and ruffled out of its usual perfect state. He had a small cut wound across his cheek, and his lips were cracked. A small trail of dried up blood went from the corner of his mouth and down over his chin. Jonouchi carefully wiped it off with the sleeve of his jacket without really being aware of what he was doing.

Kaiba gave up a small, pained sound which tore at Jonouchi's heart – but now the blond knew he was going to be okay.

* * *

><p>Kaiba was vaguely aware that someone was moving him. It was odd, though, because it felt different from before. This person was much more careful, and quiet. And since when did his kidnappers actually pick him up when they moved him around?<p>

Still, he was afraid they might hurt him again. He hadn't given up any of the information they wanted, since he had honestly thought they'd stop and let him go if he didn't say anything. They hadn't.

He was put down on the floor again, but his wrists weren't handcuffed and tied up, much to his mixed surprise and relief. And… he was leaning against someone. Someone warm. And suddenly he felt something brush against his chin, but it neither hurt nor burned or… felt bad at all.

Kaiba managed to move his head just a little, and cracked one eye open. Even though he knew it was dark in there the light still hurt his eyes. He was met with the sight of a mop of golden hair and a pair of strangely worried yet relieved hazel eyes.

"Pup… puppy?" Kaiba managed to get out; his voice completely destroyed from not being used for so long, and his throat was dry.

"Shh," the other person said softly. Now Kaiba knew it couldn't have been Jonouchi – if it was he would've gotten mad for being called a dog's name for the umpteenth time. "Yer goin' to be okay, Kaiba. Just hang in there fer a while."

Kaiba felt fingers brush over his cheek and he leaned into the touch, tiredly closing his eyes; after days of torture and nothing but pain, this was like the sweetest of nectar. Someone cared. He didn't care who it was or how they had found him – someone really did care.

He could feel his consciousness slip away from him again and willingly dropped into the gentle darkness; in there his pain was duller and the memories of the past few days were nothing but a blur.

* * *

><p>A week had passed.<p>

Kaiba had only been in the hospital for two of those days, even though the doctors said he should've stayed longer. He didn't want to – he had already been gone long enough and wanted to get back to business; not only finding his damned kidnappers but fixing everything that had been neglected during his absence. Mokuba had done a surprisingly good job, but he was still just a kid.

One week had passed since Kaiba was let out of the hospital when he finally decided to give the mutt a call. Jonouchi had showed up at his doorstep half an hour later, nervously fiddling with his own hands. The brunet hadn't seen him since the warehouse; the blond hadn't even visited him in the hospital – like Yugi had – and somehow… Kaiba had expected him to.

But when Jonouchi finally stepped into Kaiba's office he looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there; his eyes wandering around the room and doing anything but meeting Kaiba's own. When he finally did, he smiled an insecure smile.

"Ya, um… ya look better," Jonouchi said. For whatever reason, Kaiba felt like putting a question-mark behind his sentence, because the blond really did sound unsure of himself.

Kaiba forced himself to smile a little and swept out with his hand.

"Please, sit down."

Jonouchi sat down at the very edge of the chair on the other side of Kaiba's desk. He was still fiddling with his hands, much to Kaiba's annoyance. But he decided to ignore that.

"Jonouchi, you most likely saved my life," Kaiba said and purposely used the blond's real name to show how serious he was. "I probably would've died if you hadn't saved me. I wanted to thank you for that… And I wanted to know, what kind of reward would you like?"

Jonouchi's eyes snapped up from his hands clasped in his lap. "What?" he said dumbly.

"Your reward. What do you want? How much?"

"I-I didn't…" Jonouchi began, a small but incredulous smile on his face. "I never wanted to… I don't want a reward."

This time it was Kaiba's turn to look surprised.

"But you saved my life," Kaiba said, putting a lot of force behind his words. "I want to thank you for that. Now what do you want?"

"I don't wanna reward!" Jonouchi said, his voice raised and clearly a bit upset by now. "I never did it for the reward! I didn't even know there was one!"

"Then why did you do it?" Kaiba asked when he honestly couldn't think of any reason for the blond saving him. He had a small frown on his face; Jonouchi never made sense to him.

"Fer God's…! Is it so hard ta understand someone might do somethin' just ta be nice?"

Kaiba blinked a little. "But why would you be nice… towards me?"

Jonouchi lowered his head and stared at his hands, and Kaiba wasn't quite sure, but there might have been a slight pink tone to the blond's cheeks.

"Because… b-because… Just because I don't like ya that doesn't mean I want ya ta die!" he finally blurted out, but without raising his head. "I-I can't imagine the world wit' a Kaiba-shaped hole in it, yanno? I-it's nice havin' you around… a-as someone ta f-fight with!" he added, with a slight desperate tone to his voice.

A… Kaiba-shaped hole? Kaiba almost smiled, suddenly hit with some sort of strange affection for the other teen. For the record, he couldn't exactly imagine the world with a mutt-shaped hole in it either; everything would be a lot less interesting without the blond around, he realized. He was actually on the verge of telling that to Jonouchi when he was interrupted.

"I really don't want a reward, so I'm gonna go now!"

"Wait, puppy…"

But Jonouchi was faster; he had already stood up and was on his way out of there. Kaiba stood up as well and followed him. Jonouchi was practically running, and Kaiba was _not_ going to do that, but he did manage to catch up with the blond by the front door, just as he was on his way out.

"Jonouchi!" Kaiba said and, without thinking, grabbed onto Jonouchi's wrist. The blond squirmed and tried to get loose, but that only resulted in Kaiba tightening his grip.

"Lemme go! Ya can't keep me 'ere!" Jonouchi wasn't screaming, but his voice was loud, and he did sound like he was in a bit of pain. He finally turned around; his teeth were gritted and his face distorted into a grimace. "Let go!"

"I'm not letting go until you tell me what reward you want!" Kaiba said firmly and the blond seemed to calm down a bit. "You saved my life and I hate being in debt to people, so you're getting your reward, whether you want it or not!"

Jonouchi finally calmed down completely, but his face was turned away and Kaiba couldn't see his eyes because of his golden bangs. The brunet kept his hand around Jonouchi's wrist, but it appeared to him as if the blond was thinking. When he finally turned around again his face was – to Kaiba's big surprise – completely unreadable.

"You wanna give me a reward?" He took a deep breath. "Then shut up an' let me do this."

Before Kaiba could even react, Jonouchi brought up his free hand, grabbed onto the brunet's shirt and pulled him closer, painfully crashing their lips together. Kaiba's blue eyes widened in surprise, but the blond's eyes were desperately closed. Kaiba felt something flutter deep down in his stomach and just as his eyes automatically started to slide shut, Jonouchi practically pushed himself away from the brunet. He turned around and took a quick few steps, but didn't get far.

Kaiba was still holding onto his wrist.

"Let go!"

"No," Kaiba said firmly and tugged, quite violently, at Jonouchi's wrist. The blond almost lost his balance and took a step backwards. Kaiba caught him with his free hand, made him spin around and pressed the blond against his own body. Jonouchi immediately stopped struggling, his eyes wide.

"K-Kaiba?" he questioned, his head pressed against Kaiba's chest.

"If this is the reward you want…" Kaiba said softly and managed to put one hand under Jonouchi's chin, forcing his face up. The brunet got closer, maybe enjoying the spark of terror in the blond's eyes a little too much, and rubbed the tips of their noses together. "… then this is the proper 'thank you' you'll get."

Kaiba covered the final bit of space between his and Jonouchi's lips. For a moment it all felt too unreal. Then he could feel the blond slowly starting to move his lips against Kaiba's, and the brunet's heart fluttered in some unknown emotion. He held Jonouchi tighter, and could feel the blond grasp at his shirt again, as if he was clinging onto him to be able to even stand up.

In the middle of their kiss, Kaiba smiled. He had never been this happy someone had kidnapped him.


End file.
